Baseball : Aude Experiencing Hunger at the Plate in More Ways Than One

Milkshakes and soup have become staples of Rich Aude’s diet since his jaw was wired shut after a beaning incident Aug. 9.

The surgery brought a premature end to Aude’s first professional season.

“Sometimes it’s kind of hard when my family and friends eat in front of me,” said Aude, who has lost 12 pounds in the past three weeks. “There was a couple days between when they changed wires and I was able to have a big breakfast, which was great. I also went to a Dodger game and shoved a Dodger Dog through there.”

The dog days of inactivity, however, have not been all bad.

Aude, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ second-round draft pick out of Chatsworth High, acquired his driver’s license earlier this week then used part of his $80,000 signing bonus to purchase a Nissan 300ZX.

Aude’s jaw will remain wired for three more weeks, forcing him to miss the first week of Instructional League in Florida.

“I think they’re making a flap on the helmet like (Oakland Athletics catcher) Terry Steinbach uses to protect the jaw,” said Aude, who batted .216 with no home runs and seven runs batted in in 24 games for Bradenton of the Gulf Coast Rookie League.

“I’m looking forward to playing again. I still have to prove myself to a lot of people.”

Summer in Paris: After saying au revoir to baseball in France, Denny Vigo is looking forward to the comfortable confines of Cal State Northridge’s Matador Field.

Vigo, CSUN’s sophomore third baseman, returned Thursday from a two-week trip to Paris with a team of players aged 16 to 22 from the Valley area and West Los Angeles.

The team, sponsored by the West Coast Baseball School in Agoura, compiled a 7-1 record against the French national team, which opened play Friday in the Euro-Baseball tournament in Paris.

“It’s going to take them longer than a couple years to build a program,” Vigo said of the French. “They were about the level of a decent high school team.”

Field conditions, Vigo said, were of an even lower level.

The first three games of the series were played on an all-grass field inside a velodrome. The next three were played on a field of Pony League-sized dimensions, and the final two were contested on a more traditional diamond.

“They’re in love with rocks,” said Vigo, who batted .241 with three home runs and 26 RBIs last season for Northridge. “There’s no clay or dirt infields. The best fielding surface was at the velodrome.”

The highlight of Vigo’s many sightseeing journeys was the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

“I didn’t want to leave the place,” Vigo said. “The stained glass windows and everything else inside were incredible.”

Return to form: The inconsistency that prevented Tim Nedin from establishing himself as a fixture in the starting rotation for Florida State last season all but disappeared after Nedin signed a contract with the Minnesota Twins.

Nedin, a left-hander who played at Hart High and College of the Canyons, helped pitch Elizabethton, Tenn., to the championship of the Appalachian Rookie League earlier this week.

Nedin had 102 strikeouts in 74 innings and was 6-2 with a 1.58 earned-run average for Elizabethton, which defeated the Pulaski (Va.) Braves in the best-of-three championship series. His performance earned him an invitation to Instructional League, which begins Sept. 11 in West Palm Beach, Fla.

“I had heard that Tim had some control problems at Florida State but he didn’t show us any,” said Jim Rantz, the Twins’ minor league director. “You have to wait until the end of the year to see if a pitcher or position player has had some consistency, and he’s certainly showed that.”

Pennant fever: Despite his team-low .207 batting average and 44 strikeouts in 92 at-bats for Niagara Falls, N.Y., Gino Tagliaferri is expected to play a key role in his team’s run for the New York-Penn League Western Division championship.

Niagara Falls, affiliated with the Detroit Tigers, was one game behind the Jamestown (N.Y.) Expos with three games remaining in the season.

Tagliaferri, Detroit’s third-round draft choice out of Kennedy High, is playing third base and has made 13 errors in 28 games since signing with the Tigers in late July.

“At first, it was rough,” said Tagliaferri, who played shortstop in high school. “There’s not as much time to see the ball at third. I’m taking about 200 ground balls a day and getting better.”

Recently, Tagliaferri made two key defensive plays that helped preserve wins. He also belted a game-winning two-run homer in the ninth against the Hamilton (Ontario, Canada) Redbirds.

“Gino’s in a very fast league,” Niagara Falls Manager Rick Magnante said. “Most of the guys here are anywhere between 21 and 23 years old. Over half are probably in their second year of pro ball.

“All in all, he’s done a pretty good job for a kid who came late to the league.”

Tagliaferri has three home runs and 15 runs batted in. He will report to Instructional League in Lakeland, Fla., on Sept. 12.

Missing in action: The Calgary Cannons, the Seattle Mariners’ affiliate in the triple-A Pacific Coast League, began a playoff series with Vancouver this weekend without reliever Dana Ridenour, the former Sylmar High and UCLA right-hander who was traded in March from the New York Yankees for Steve Balboni.

Ridenour had been on the disabled list since severely twisting an ankle June 18. He finished the season with a 2-1 record, 5.50 ERA and one save in 37 2/3 innings.